The Department of Restoration and Preservation, within the Ministry for Culture, Lands and Local Government, was responsible for the extensive restoration work carried out on the Santa Liena bastion and moat to safeguard this important part of our tangible heritage, with an investment of almost €1.7 million. Minister for Culture, Lands and Local Government Owen Bonnici, together with Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government Alison Zerafa Civelli, visited this restoration project.
Minister Owen Bonnici said, “This restoration is clear evidence of the Government’s ongoing commitment to protecting and enhancing our historical and cultural heritage. Through substantial investment, we are not only saving structures of historical value, but we are ensuring that they remain a living part of the Maltese identity for generations to come.”
Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government Alison Zerafa Civelli said that this project had long been desired, especially by the residents of Cottonera, and that it had now been realised. “This restoration of the fort, which forms part of our country’s tangible heritage, is another investment that will continue to be enjoyed by future generations. The Department of Restoration and Preservation worked hand in hand with the Cospicua Local Council so that today we are seeing the fort regain its natural state.”
The walls of the Santa Liena fortification were designed and built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There were areas where the stonework had deteriorated and needed to be replaced to prevent further damage. The project was divided into sections covering 460 metres of fortifications and 340 metres of moat walls with a total area of almost 10,000 square metres.
The restoration consisted of cleaning the stones where the original patina was preserved wherever possible, removing cement plaster, consolidating and filling the seams with a mixture containing hydraulic lime. Parts of the moat walls that suffered damage had to be rebuilt and the original stonework was used where feasible. The moat crossing that had been cut into the rock was strengthened with a fastening technique with studs made specifically for this purpose. During the restoration, countermines were discovered inside the walls of the Santa Liena moat, which provided further insight into the military engineering of the site.
The project restored a curved ramp that historically gave the military access to the Upper Verdala and also intersected with the cavalry powder magazine. The emplacements that were modified by the British Army in the early twentieth century to accommodate larger cannons were also restored, as was the preservation of a section that remains of the water cisterns that served the British military stationed in the Fort Verdala barracks.
Also present for this visit were the Chairman of the Cottonera Foundation, Joe Mizzi, and the Mayor of Cospicua, Marco Agius.
